Version 1.3
Copyrighted 1999@ to Alexis
>-----------<***()***()***()Wetrix()***()***()***>------------<
Updates:
>--------------------<
Version 1.3
-Updated Secrets
-Tips for attaining ratings
-The Ultimate (So far) Scoring Strategy
-Check out the Table of contents. This is a huge faq!
Drop your jaw in awe. (Whoa! I'm a poet and I didn't know it! I make a
rhyme every time! Ack!!)
Version 1.2
-Added a whole bunch of overviews for every playing mode.
-Added a few.... 'Secrets' (potentially!!)
-Added a few tips
-Added some player strategies (With it's own section! :)
-Fixed spacing... AGAIN :)
Version 1.1
-Added a few tips in the tips section
-Alot of spacing mistakes fixed. Don't use tab! :)
-Added some general additions to the other sections.
This is my first faq for a video game, so I'm doing my best. I'm making
it as concise as possible, and will try to update often. I am writing
this as I play it, so if you miss a secret in here, or something else
that you've seen, and I haven't added it yet, I probably haven't found
it yet.
Index:
Legal Cra* (If it offendes anyone..)
Pretense: Objective(s) of game.
1) Controls
2) Playing the game
-Playing modes
-Pieces
-Objects
-Scoring/Playing
3) Tips
-Strategies
-Attaining your ratings
-Player Strategies
-The Ultimate Earth Strategy
4) Secrets
-Extra Pieces
-Wetrix Waves
-Extra Floors
5) Contact\Thanks
Ok this is my Legal Cra*. First off, this faq is copyrighted, and the
Logo and names of Zedtwo, Ocean, and Wetrix, are also copyrighted. As
for this faq, don't sell, lease, barter, or distribute to anyone, or put
it on your site
without my written permission. The end.
If you want my faq on your site... let me know first. It'll most likely
be a 'yes', but tell me FIRST!
>--------------------<
Pretense: Objective(s) of the game
>--------------------<
Playing the game
>--------------------<
This game may remind of tetris if you look at the box. Pieces fall
down, and you position them around the playing field. The object for
most of the game, is to create a barrier, or a dam to surround the
playing field. You get many different types of pieces, which you much
place to recieve another one. If you don't put it down, it will fall by
itself. There are 'Uppers', 'Downers', 'Water drops', and miscellaneous
pieces. Refer to 'Gameplay' to see details.
Use the uppers to create the dam, and the downers to make sure it
doesn't get too big, so that you cause an earthquake! Then you will be
forced to play water drops within your dam, and make sure you spill as
little as possible! (Hence the name, 'Wetrix'. Water..tetris..Wetrix)
Every drop spilled off the playing field will go into your 'Drain'.
When the drain fills up, you lose! It SOUNDS easy, but with fast
falling blocks, bombs, a few disasters, and you'll be so intent on
playing, you'll probably forget to blink.
Part 1:
>--------------------<>--------------------<
Controls of the Game
>--------------------<>--------------------<
Really, there are not many controls you need to master. This is what
the *Default* settings are:
A button:
On the main screens, it selects your choice. In any other game mode, it
will drop your piece straight down. (except for a few practice modes)
This is much like the 'Down' button for tetris.
B button:
This rotates the piece selected, if it can be rotated. It will always
be turned Counter-Clockwise. On the main screens, it takes you back to
the previous menu.
Z button:
Several functions for this button. In any solo mode, this will use one
of your *Smart Bombs* (if you have any, look up gameplay for how to get
them). If you are in mutiplayer, it will set off whatever attack you
are at.
R button: This will change your zoom, from far, normal, and zoomed up.
I don't see any usual use for the zoomed up one, as you can only see
small portion of the whole field at once, although it may be useful to
identify how high a section may be to another.
C buttons: They each will change your camera angle. The Up and Down C
buttons, will tilt the whole playing field to a top-down view, or a
side view respectively. The left and right C buttons will turn the
playing field counterclockwise, and clockwise, respectively.
L button: No use
Control Pad: Same thing as the analog stick, but is much more stable
when playing the game because you can move the blocks slowly in one
square increments, whereas you must move the analog stick VERRRY
CAREFULLY and SLOWWWLY to achieve the same effect. Also used to select
menus on the main screen.
Analog stick: Probably most often used, even if not the best control
style. This moves the pieces around, and allows you to select menus on
the main screen.
Part 2:
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Gameplay:
>--------------------<>--------------------<
>--------------------<
The Gamescreen
>--------------------<
The screen mainly looks like this. This is the DEFAULT. There are modes
where they will be different, but this is in general:
In the top left corner of the screen, is your score counter. As far as
I know, there isn't an reachable limit for this. It goes up whenever
you use the 'A' button to place a block down, evaporate water, or
repair a hole. Your score cannot go down, only up.
In the upper right hand, you will see the level number you are at, and
the number of lakes you have. The level is the speed at which the
blocks fall down, and the amount your points are multiplied by. The
lakes are the number of individual containers of water you have. Your
score is also multiplied by each one you have. Two lakes is a double
multipliy, three is a triple, etc.
Next to the level and lake indicator, is a small clock. It ticks
slowly, or sometimes faster depending on the number of pieces on the
board. Whenever it gets close to where it started, you will hear a
small siren warning you. When it reaches the end, it resets, and you
move on to the next higher level. If you have 'Five (5)' active lakes
when this happens, you will recieve a 'Smart Bomb'
Below this to the right, is the water drain. All leaked water will fall
in here, and this tube rises up as you collect water. When it reaches
the top, you will lose the game.
Underneath the drain, is a small leakage map which shows you where
water is falling off the screen. Use this as a guide to see where you
should cover up leaks (more on this later).
Under the leakage radar, is the 'Next piece' indicator. This tells you
the next type of piece you will recieve. It will either look like an
'Up' arrow (uppers), a 'Down' arrow (a downer), a sphere of water
'Water drop', a bomb (a bomb), or fire (fire of course).
Next, to the left of the piece indicator, is the number of smart bombs
you have. These are earned by having five (5) or more active lakes
whenever you move on to a higher level. Use the 'Z' button to activate
any you have. Using them clears you drain, flattens all land on the
playing field, along with soaking up all water on the field. Very handy
for starting over. Using it does not affect your score in anyway.
And to the left of that, is the earthquake indicator. It goes up when
you place uppers, and goes down when you use fire on dry land, a bomb,
or a downer. If it hits the top... EARTHQUAKE!! (see below)
And of course, the rest is all part of the playing field. The
background pulsates as you play, and changes color along with the field
as you change levels.
>--------------------<
If in practice mode, one, or more of these screens may not be present.
In any challenge 'Timed' mode, you will see a large LCD Clock next to
the level clock reporting time remaining
In any challenge 'Piece limited' you will see a large LCD indicator
showing the number of pieces you have left
>--------------------<
Playing modes:
>--------------------<
See the playing modes BELOW for details on them all, and what to do.
You have many choices availible! Here they are:
Practice: Go through the lessons, or play practice. The lessons have to
be completed in order, and deal with everything from building dams to
making rainbows. You can also choose to have a computer guide you.
Practice is just like classic mode, except you start with Nine smart
bombs, and the blocks never fall until you make them. Great for
practicing, but hard to score well because many of the lake, duck, and
rainbow bonuses are disabled.
Classic: Well, classic. Pieces fall at a regular rate compared to the
level, and everything is set to default. Go for points!
Pro: Hey! It's pro! Start on level five, and all bombs are paired as
doubles, and be ready for some fast falling blocks! Pretty much the
same as classic otherwise.
Challenge: Try and complete these challenges!!
1 Minute: You have 1 minute, to play at level 10! Try to survive!
5 Minute: You have 5 minutes, to play at a lower level, usually
five. Live through it
100 piece: 100 pieces will come down, so try to use them all!
500 piece: 500 pieces will come down, use as many as you can!
Preset A: Blocks fall in a preset pattern. Pretty much like
classic.
Preset B: Just like A, just different pattern, and starts at
level five
Handicapped: When you move from one leve to the next, the situation is
reset!
Raised Land A: Your earthquake meter starts a little higher than
empty
Raised Land B: Even higher than raised land A
Ice layer A: Start with a large chunk of ice that will
melt
quickly
Ice Layer B: Same as A, just different layer pattern.
Random Land: Get random land spread all about the field! Careful!
Random Holes: Start with many random holes spread all about the
field!
Half-Full drain: Start with half the drain already filled!
Multiplayer: What can I say? It's two player multiplayer! Make big
lakes and try evaporate it to gain attack power. These are the attacks:
Water: The higher the attack power, the most water droplets will fall
from the sky, into random points on their land
Ice: The higher the attack power, the more blocks of ice will fall down
from the sky, freezing the water and messing up some of the land
Earthquake: The higher the attack power, the more powerful the
earthquake is, just like the one from single-player mode!
Bomb: Devasating bombs fall from the sky into the field! The higher the
attack, the more bombs!
It starts at water, and moves up to bomb as you evaporate more and
more. Use the 'Z' button to activate your attack.
>--------------------<
>--------------------<>--------------------<
Objects:
>--------------------<>--------------------<
Objects within the game:
These are all the objects you will see while playing 'Wetrix'
Well, than again... not yet.... let's go over the playing modes first..
>--------------------<>--------------------<
The playing modes:
>--------------------<>--------------------<
Classic:
Well, classic. This is the general playing mode. You will start on level
one, and after a while it will start to rain, then ice comes.. mines
comes.... etc. Classic!
Surviving: See below under strategies, they mostly deal with elements of
this.
>--------------------<>--------------------<
Pro:
Like classic, except you start on level 5, some water bubble formations
are different (not much), and you may get a few double-pieces (Double
bombs attached!)
Surviving: Well, same as the classic survival tactics... but you won't
need to go after five or six ducks, it's difficult. If you are going
after points, four ducks is enough. Everything goes pretty much the
same, but
>--------------------<>--------------------<
Challenge:
1 Minute Challenge: You have one minute to survive. Sounds easy.... but
you start right out on level ten. Even dropping a single water bubble
out will cause you to lose...see the ratings in the secret section to
see how to do well....
Surviving: To survive this, use all your blocks to make a permimeter as
fast as you can, but unless you're really confident, don't even bother
using the a button to drop it faster. Then, just evaporate with every
fireball you get. If there are mines, obviously don't evaporate. Fix all
leaks as fast as you can, and don't worry about too many extra parts
sticking out. If you are going for at least an expert rating, you need
10,000 points. For this, you can either do several hole repair bonuses.
At level 10, a middle sized hole can be worth up to at least 3,000
points. Just do a few of these, or make one duck, and one good
evaporation with a rainbow will do it.
>--------------------<>--------------------<
5 Minute Challenge: Well...just like one minute challenge....except it
lasts five minutes... and it starts on level four instead.
Surviving: Well...these time challenges have the same characteristics as
classic... this starts on level four... so just use the same strategies
as classic.
>--------------------<>--------------------<
100 piece Challenge: You will drop 100 pieces down...(not really... the
counter is screwed so it's more like 99), and you start on level
eight...
Surviving: I'm running out of things to say. For these types of
challenges just try to build a few ducks and get as many evaporations as
you can. If you simply want to get through it for an ok rating, just
drop 50 pieces. Just make a small dam, and drop then all down as fast as
you can (careful with bombs!)
>--------------------<>--------------------<
500 piece challenge: Well, like the 100 piece challenge, but you have
500 pieces. You start on level four.
Surviving: Um...what can I say? Drop 250 pieces for an ok rating, and
just builds duck dams to the best of your ability. You need 8 million
points for this one, so it's tricky. With three ducks, you should be
able to achieve that. Take your time, and don't use the 'a' button
because the points you get for it are not worth it.
>--------------------<>--------------------<
Preset A: Pieces drop in a preset pattern. Period. JUST LIKE CLASSIC!
Surviving: Um... this is pretty much exactly like classic but the pieces
come in the same order everytime. Learn about what order they will come
in, and just do it like classic.
>--------------------<>--------------------<
Preset B: Just like preset a, but different order, and you start on
level five.
Surviving: Well, not much difference. Just build to the best of your
ability. Because this, and preset a are long term challenges, you just
need to stay alive. Same strategies as classic.
>--------------------<>--------------------<
Handicap: These aren't 'Good' handicaps toward you. These all make the
game harder (in my opinion at least)
For all of these, just get to level 10 and you will be crowned Expert.
Ice layer A: A large circular layer of ice starts the game. It will melt
after about 20 seconds, so build around it. If you contained all the
ice, you'll have a rainbow. When you reach the next level, all the water
you have in your playing field will freeze again.
Surviving: First, there is no much to fear. You start on level one, so
just make ducks and rainbows like classic. Don't fear the freeze-over at
level-ups, just let it melt.
>--------------------<>--------------------<
Ice layer B: A mid-sized circular, two layer ice stack starts the game.
It melts after about 20 seconds, so just like ice layer A.
Suviving: Just like ice layer A, but you start with more water. Also
freezes at level up.
>--------------------<>--------------------<
Raised land A:You start with some extra land in the earthquake
meter....otherwise like classic.
Surviving: Well, to be honest, it's just like classic, just be more
conservative with your blocks. I don't see what happens at level up
though....
>--------------------<>--------------------<
Rasied land B: Alot more land starting that Raised land A
Surviving: Be even more conservative! You will not be able to build too
many ducks dams, so be careful and just survive to level 10.
>--------------------<>--------------------<
Random Land: You start the game with random land, with hills and
reccessions everywhere. Just work on that perimiter, and just drop those
downers wherever to lower the land down. At level up, expect a smart
bomb-like blow-up with raised land once more.
Surviving: What can I say? I think I said it all in the description.
Just be sure you have cleared as much as you can before you build ducks,
but don't build too many because they will all dissapear at level up
anyway.
>--------------------<>--------------------<
Random Holes: You start the game with holes everywhere.
Suviving: Plug those holes!! Keep in mind uppers only have to be close
to holes to plug them up, and if you fix one part, you fix it all. You
should be able to fix all the holes within three uppers, then just build
that perimiter. Watch out at level-up when you have to do it agin
>--------------------<>--------------------<
Half-full Drain: You start the game with the water drain half filled.
Surviving: Just like classic pretty much. Just be very careful. A few
good evaporations will bring down the drain and you won't have to worry
about it, until level-up again at least...
>--------------------<>--------------------<
Multiplayer: Two player!
Well, no true survival tactics.. just strategies. First of all, forget
making lakes, all donut shapes should be downed into the large lake. Use
every downer carefully, and move as fast as you can. Don't evaporate
until the water is all the way at it's limit. You won't need to make
double or triple layers, one is enough. If you let it get to the very
top then you evaporate it, you will shoot straight into the bomb attack.
If you have a bomb coming, use it in the corner, and ONLY if you have a
SQUARE downer, then use it in the hole, then cover it up and you will
down a large chunk of your opponent's attack power!
About the attacks, really the only one that does an real damage is the
bomb attack. I may have said the others do to, the the only one that
will make life significantly harder for the opponent in the bomb attack.
Also, don't bother using the bomb until it is fully charged. Having a
single bomb fall down on your opponent really isn't going to do much,
especially if they have an upper handy. At full charge, up to seven
bombs will fall. That'll hurt. If you are lucky, you can wait until they
have dropped a bomb down, THEN attack and if you're lucky, one of your
bombs will fall into their hole and trigger another rebomb.. and if they
are still alive... possibly another re-bomb.. (Very unlikely though!)
The Earthquake attack will really only carve down the out perimeter, but
chances are if they don't have a HUGE lake, they will not lose, and a
few uppers will fix all the damage made. Even a strong charged up
earthquake isn't much use.
Ice is really only handy if they have a whole bunch of water and they
are going to evaporate it, then you can delay them for some time. One
really good move is to have an ice attack ready, then fill up your lake,
enough so you will get a bomb on the next evaporation. Then right before
you evaporate, use the ice attack, then when you get the bomb, use that
too. That will not only freeze the water so they can't evaporate it, you
can stick bombs into the ice, so if they don't fix it fast enough, when
the ice melts all the bombs will explode.
Water? HAH! This is useless! Even a fully charged attack will only HELP
them, because only some of the drops will actually fall outside, and the
rest add to their water supply. The only time in which is may be of use
to you, is when they have a huge lake that is at it's limit, or when
they have an imcomplete perimeter (IE you were very fast in getting it).
So just work really fast and you won't have much to worry about, unless
they read this guide too of course... remember, if you don't have much
of a lake to evaporate, expand a large hole, then cover it up and down a
large chunk of your opponent's energy, enough to give you extra time.
Whew!
>--------------------<>--------------------<
>--------------------<>--------------------<
NOW The Pieces:
>--------------------<>--------------------<
'Upper' Pieces:
These are pieces that fall from the sky, and look like blocks formed
out of red arrows pointing up. When they hit the field, they raise
whatever land they touch by one unit. There is a limit of course, of
six units. If you have too many uppers on the field, you will cause an
earthquake (more on that later). In the default set, there are four
'Upper' pieces.
Straight piece: A simple straight piece. Stretchs a few squares long.
'T' piece: A piece that looks like the letter 'T'. Can be annoying to
place, but it handy for splitting large lakes.
'L' piece: A piece that looks like the letter 'L', but is the same
length for both ends. A very handy piece for covering the corners of
the field, and 'capping' off a whole in a dam. Combine the ends of two
of these and you'll have a large ring piece.
Ring piece:
Looks like a square ring with a single square whole in the center.
Great for making singe lakes.
>--------------------<>--------------------<>--------------------<>----
'Downer' Pieces:
Again, pieces which fall from the sky, and look like blocks formed
out
of green arrows pointing down. Many good uses for what seems like a bad
piece. This is mainly used to control uppers, making sure they don't
get too piled up and cause an earthquake. Downers are like 'Equalizers'
because they will lower whatever land it touches to the lowest point
it touches.
Another major use is for 'shaping' your dam just right, as they
can
trim off unneccsary uppers that may be sticking out. The more space you
have, the more space you have for water and you can hold more!
Only two default downer pieces:
Straight piece: Same size as the straight upper piece.
Square piece: A small square, useful for holing out a large mound for a
lake.
>--------------------<>--------------------<>--------------------<>----
'Water drop' pieces:
This is what makes the game. They come in many sizes, and you want to
contain them within your playing field. When they hit the ground, they
spread out depending on their size. There are many things you can do
with these, just make sure they don't fall off the field. When they do,
it adds to the 'drain' and when the drain fills up, you lose!
'Fire' pieces.
A VERY handy piece, and will aid in your largest high scores. This
evaporates all the water in a lake it touches, and if placed on dry
land, it flattens a 2x2 square around it down to the ground and slopes
the nearby land. Handy if you need to lower land
'Bomb' pieces.
This can be both the most annoying piece, and the most helpful (in a
case). It's bad, because whatver ground it hits, it will not only
flatten ANY size hillt to the ground like fire does, it puts a hole in
the playing field! It affects a 2x2 square, and the whole is very
vulnerable. Water easily flows through it as if it were the edge of a
board, and can cost you alot of leakage. However it is easily repaired,
just put a upper near it or on top of it to repair the hole. You can't
get 'deep' holes, just a hole. They are good for blasting away large
mounds that have been piled up on the edge of the board though, and can
keep your earthquake meter down.
>--------------------<
Gameplay Action:
>--------------------<
>--------------------<
Bad things:
>--------------------<
You have no control over these when they fall, and are random (to a
point)
Rain:
As you progress through the game, it will begin to rain. Although each
tiny drop is much less than a water droplett, it can add up. You will
often see your leak radar reporting leaks. These are usually places
where rain water is falling off the board. The amount is usually so
tiny it's not much of a problem, but if you have several you may want
to patch one up (just make the dam there higher). Sometimes you may get
a bit of a 'rainstorm' where it will rain heavier than it normally
does, then it will stop for a while, then come back. Always be ready!
Ice cubes:
These fall at random parts of the game, always after the second level
that a game starts at. They freeze all water that touches it, and when
water is frozen, it acts differently. First of all, it won't move, so
you will stop leaking if any water from it was leaking. Second, if you
place a downer into ice, you will destroy it and it will dissappear
forever. Third, if you drop water onto ice, it will freeze too, just
don't stack it too high! Eventually, it will melt and it all comes back
to water. However, if water hits dry land (either place an upper under
where it will fall, or evaporate the water before the ice touches it),
you will recieve a nice 'Dry Ice' bonus. Usually not worth getting, but
it's figured out at
Levelnumberx250
So if you are at a high level, such as ten, you get a nice 2,500 points
per dry ice, and it can add up if you have a rainbow!
Re-Bomb:
NASTY THINGS!! If you drop a bomb into a hole generated by another
bomb, you will trigger a re-bomb! Three bombs will fall out of the sky
at random points. They act like normal bombs, and will usually cause
you to have severe leaking problems if you have a large lake. If you
survive it, fix the holes fast!! And worse yet, if one of the re-bomb
bomb falls into another hole, you will get ANOTHER re-bomb! You can see
how serious it can get! If you have a large lake and you are at a high
level, you better use a Smart bomb if you have one, or you are GONE.
Mines:
Like Ice, they fall out of the sky at random times, but usually after
the fourth level of what you start at. They will usually hit water, and
float there until they dissapear. Or, if they fall on dry land, or you
stick an upper below it before it lands, it will dissapear even faster.
If you try to evaporate water that is occupied by mine(s), you will
evaporate a small amount and the mine will explode like a bomb, and
place a large hole whereever it was. Will definitly cause major
drainage into your drain if it landed in a large lake. Put an upper on
top of a mine to make it go away faster.
Earthquakes:
Very bad! Everytime you place an upper, the earthquake meter goes up,
from a green to a red color. When it hits the top, you get an
earthquake and the entire field shakes, and you will lose a large
random portion of your land, usually the outside area. You will never
get a hole from an earthquake. Try to avoid these as much as possible
by using downers, bombs, and fire efficiently. A good way is to dump
all unused uppers in one corner, and bomb it all when you get one, then
use the next upper to repair the hole and do it again!
>--------------------<
Good things:
>--------------------<
Rubber Duckies:
These appear in deep lakes, 'Deep' meaning lakes two or more units deep
(or in a hill two units high). There is no true limit to the limit of
the number of ducks you can have, but you can only one one per lake.
Each one adds a x2 to your score, so your first one mutiplies all score
by two, a second will multiply by four, a third by six, a fouth by
eight, etc. Combine them with rainbows for super high scores! You
cannot get rubber duckies in practice mode.
Rainbows:
Ok, here is something I may be wrong at: I believe you can only have
one rainbow at a time (correct me if I'm wrong). When you have placed a
large amount of water down, including water your ducks are occupying, a
rainbow will form. They multiply all score by TEN (10) and will stay
that way until you evaporate the water, or it leaks out. Combine them
with ducks, for great scores! If you have three ducks, and one rainbow,
all score is multiplied by 60! (You cannot get rainbows in practice
mode)
(2x2x2x10)
Duck/Duck/Duck/Rainbow
>--------------------<>--------------------<>--------------------<>----
Scoring:
>--------------------<
Scoring can get complicated. Here is a general list first:
Placing a block down as soon as it appears: 8xlevel
Placing a block down halfway: 4xlevel
Placing a block down moments before it hits: 1xlevel
Evaporating water:
Obviously, this number will be higher according to the amount of water
you evaporate at once. The deeper and wider the lake is, the more
you'll get. It is also multiplied by the number of ducks, rainbows,
lakes, and level you are on. See how you get points:
Evaporate water:
500 points for the initial evaporation (Mid sized lake)
Two lakes:
Level two:
500x2x2=2000 points!!
Now see what you get with ducks and rainbows!
500 points for initial evaporation:
Five Lakes
Four Ducks
One Rainbow
Level Seven
500x5x2x2x2x2x10x7=
2500x8x70=
2500x256=640000!
That's alot of points for one evaporation! Compare that to the above!
Fixing holes:
These vary on your level, and multiply by the level you are at, usually
25, or 50 times level number. You can get more points by fixing
multiple, or large holes at once. They are also multiplied by ducks,
rainbow(s), and lakes.
Dry Ice bonus:
Gotten when dry ice is placed on dry land, or when fire and ice hit the
same place at the same time. It is usually
250xlevelnumberxducks/rainbows. Usually not a great source of points,
but if you are at a high level, with lots of ducks, a deep lake and a
rainbow, try and place uppers right below where the ice will land (if
you can) and you can easily get several tens of thousands of points for
each one done.
>--------------------<
Part three:
>--------------------<
Tips
>--------------------<
-First off, a good point grabber is to put all ring-uppers on one side
of the field. You should be able to squeeze in four into one size,
(you'll have to overlap one or two). Then just line the rest of the
field up with other blocks. You may start getting water before you
finish. Just put it into the corner, and try and build up fast, or hope
you get fire. If you start flooding too much, start over. Then you can
start working on a second layer on top of the blocks. You can also use
the 'l' shaped blocks, just try not to overstack, because two layers is
all you need. Then fill them up with water drops. Now you can dump the
rest of the water in the rest of the large pool. Put all excess blocks
in one corner, and bomb it when you get one, and you can just quickly
fix it with the next upper. You should be very successful with this, as
it keeps your earthquake meter low. Just try to work fast as the points
really build up in higher levels! If you get mines, just use any fire
like a bomb on the hill. If you get ice, you can go for a dry ice
bonus, otherwise try and just wait.
>--------------------<
-In multiplayer, make as deep and wide of a lake as you can! Forget
about even TRYING to make ducks, as you can't, and wouldn't have a need
for them. One layer of water filling the whole land, evaporated, will
send your attack meter up to a weak earthquake!!
>--------------------<
-Do alot of practice, in practice. You get smart bombs, so it's almost
impossible to lose if you watch your drain. After that, go for classic!
>--------------------<
-Submit your high scores to Zedtwo, for the world to see! Check out
http://www.zedtwo.com/wetrix
and check out the high scores table. There, you can enter in all the
information. If it's a world record, you may get into the hall of fame!
>--------------------<
-Ever wonder what the 'Score Verification Code' is? (Under top scores,
in 'options) They are for making sure you don't send in fake scores to
the official site! You will be asked to enter the code for the score
you are sending in, and it will check if it's valid. Good move!
>--------------------<
-Score scoring strategies:
Method 1: Build five seperate lakes using the ring-uppers. Just stack
them on top of each other. It is a good idea to try to fit four of them
in one side. Then, as they come, use the square downers right in the
center of them. This will thin out the walls of the lakes, but not
enough that they will leak. Then just surround the rest with other
pieces, and when it is all surrounded just dump all other pieces in one
corner. If you were careful in doing this, you should be just below the
'halfpoint' on the earthquake meter. If not, flatten any parts that are
sticking out from the perimeter, and make sure you have 'squared out'
the center of as many of the ringed lakes as you can. Then countinue
and add a second layer to the perimiter of the lake (except for the
rings, they should already have two layers). Then as they come, use the
downers to thin out the perimeter as much as possible. Just line up the
downer right against the wall, then use the control PAD to move it one
square over (opposite the direction the wall is against) and you should
be able to thin out the wall. This will not only help you keep your
earthquake meter lower, but allow you to contain more water, allowing
larger evaporations. There! You're set. You should have been able to
complete this before halfway through level two (in classic). From now
on, just drop all water into the main lake, and evaporate it when fire
comes. Just make sure you've already added water to the other lakes so
that rubber duckies appear. If you want to add another lake, if it is
thinned out and filled, you will have a permenant rainbow and points
will be easy to come. Just dump all other blocks in one corner and bomb
it. In later levels when ice and mines come, try to avoid evaporating
it if it happens, just try to wait it out and hope for another fireball
later.
If you've read the above, you want to make sure you thin out the
perimeter as much as possible, and that duck lakes that have at least
one
side facing the outside, need to have that side covered by a long upper.
This way, you won't flood when the lake gets to the top, because they
will flow out the other side into the larger lake. This is crucial by
the time
you get into the higher levels, because almost every drop counts.
Method 2:
Do the same as above, and get a rainbow going (shouldn't be too hard if
you have five filled in lakes). Now whenever ice comes, stick an upper
under it. You'll have to hope you have one availible. The ice will land
on the upper, and you will get a dry ice bonus. If you are at a higher
level, say at least five, you can at least 70,000 points for each dry
ice bonus, and the more ducks and the higher level you are at, the more
you will get.
Method 3:
Just get a really big lake, made by a two or three layer perimeter.
Just make sure you thin it out. Then fill up on water until it's about
to all leak out (dump all other pieces in a corner) and evaporate it.
At a low level such as two, you can get around 50,000 points for each
evaporation, but at a level like level seven, you can get well around
several hundred thousand points!
Method 4:
Not really a real method, but still slightly handy...
At a high level, put a bomb in the corner, then use downers to extend
the hole (Make sure you have uppers to stop water from falling out
there), then if you have a few ducks and a rainbow you can get several
thousand points for the one repair.
If you are curious, my best score as of now is about 143,482,145 on
classic. You may see me on the high score charts on the Wetrix site...
(http://www.zedtwo.com/wetrix)
>--------------------<>--------------------<
Achieving your Goals
>--------------------<>--------------------<
Ok, these are tips on how to get some of the ratings. If you are just
trying to survive for a while, look above in the game plays. Now..
Getting OK:
First, let me tell you that it really isn't THAT hard to get an 'OK'
rating. No really, you may think you really suck, but it's not that
hard. The only one that may be challenging are the 'piece' challenges.
Otherwise, for all playing modes, build a perimeter. Period. If you are
a beginner, don't even worry too much about how neat it is. In Pro mode,
just do it as neat as possible. Don't even use the 'A' drop button at
all. For all the handicapps, classic, presets, and pro mode, just make
your perimeter, flatten any extra lumps you have out, and make a good
bomb dump. You only have to survive to level two.
For the piece drop challenges, it is significantly harder. The same idea
applies to both (100 and 500), just go slower, and you will want to try
to make a two layer perimeter. Make one layer, then add another and thin
out whatever you can. Take your time, as you don't want to evaporate any
water while mines are in it. If there is ice, go ahead and evaporate. If
it is really high, drop it in the corner and use downers to kill some
water. That's it!
Getting Good:
There is a significant barrier between OK and Good. You just need to
survive another levels. Do exactly the same thing as above, but for the
pro and piece challenges, try to expand your bomb dump just a little,
like one or two tiles, and try to thin out the walls as much as
possible. Just line the downer against the wall, and move it one space
in the opposite direction. You'd be surprised how thin you can get it
and have it still hold water.
Getting Excellent:You need to survive to level 5 for most of them. Since
you probably aren't really going for points (otherwise see scoring
strategies below) just make several lakes instead of one. One way is to
make one big lake, then use any straight pieces you get (the 'I and T
shapes work), and split it into two. This way if mines fall, you can at
least evaporate the other. Just make sure you drop water right on the
center, so the water drains into both of the lakes. Make your perimeter
two layers high first before anything else. Remember to thin out!
For the piece drop challenges, you need points now. If you aren't
good at making lakes out of all pieces, just use all ring uppers you get
into the corner. The top corner is the best, then when you have two
layers, use another ring right next to it, until you get another two
layer. Just drop some water into them and you'll have ducks. If you want
to try, you can use the box downers to thin out the lakes. Just move it
so that it's touching the wall of the lake, then move it once in the
opposite direction. This will save you a little bit of space on your EQ
meter. Two ducks is enough, three if you want to be sure. Don't use the
'split' lake strategy here, just don't evaporate unless there is a
rainbow. If there are mines, just drop it in the corner and wait it out.
If you know that a fireball is coming soon, you can start dropping
pieces as fast as you can into the corner until it comes, and hopefully
by then the mines are gone. Or you can choose to drop slowly, if you
know you won't get getting fire for some time.
Getting Expert: On all classical playing modes, you just need to survive
to level ten. Do the same thing as the excellent strategy. For the
handicapps, the hardest one is probably random land. Don't be afraid
when you first start. Make a perimeter, and use all downers directly on
the board to flatten as much as you can. At the next level up, make a
perimeter again. You have to repeat this for all 9 level ups. Just try
to make sure you aren't carrying a water drop as the level ups, or you
will be forced to drop it onto the random land, most which will usually
drain off the edge. For random holes, it's no problem. Make a two layer
(you can always go more if you want) perimeter, and when you get holes
at level up, just drop whatever pieces you need to fix them, then down
them when you can. It seems like alot to ask at first, but really, a
nice perimeter can keep you lasting for a long time, if you aren't going
for points.
For the timed challenges, you need ducks. For the 1 minute
challenge, make a quick perimeter as neat a POSSIBLE, and use all
ringers in the corner. You should have at least one duck, if you don't
have one by 30 seconds, restart it. Then you can either bomb the corner,
and expand it then repair the hole. You will get 150 points for each
hole there, so a fairly-large hole x ducks will get you close to your
10,000 goal. Or you can drop as much water as you can as fast as you can
into the main lake. Use your downers as fast as you can to make more
room. You will get mines close to the 20 second mark, but they dissapear
shortly. One evaporation with a rainbow and duck will win it for you. If
your last piece is a fireball and you literally have half a second left,
drop it, no matter what may be in the lake. You will at least get
points. For the other challenges, make alot of ducks. Use four ringers
in a row, on one corner. Then use two more to cap the leftmost and
rightmost to make two lakes there, Then use the 'I' uppers longside to
make the other two. Look at this... picture.
xxxxxxxx----------------------xxxxxxxx
x x x x x
x x x x x
x x x x x
xxxxxxxx----------------------xxxxxxxx
x = ringer upper
- = line upper on top of a ring upper
Then try to thin them out using the block downers as much as you can.
Just do the two in the corner at least. Then use the 'L' uppers on the
corners to cap them off, to help prevent leaks. Use the long uppers on
the open side of the other two to be safe if you want. Be sure to thin
out as much as you can for everything. This strategy is mainly for the
piece challenges. It's great for 500 piece, but for 100 piece you may
only want two or three instead of four. Then a few good evaporations
will win it. Really.
Getting SUPER: Not yet....for now just do the same as expert until I get
some better tips.
So far I've won super in classic, pro, and all challenges. What will
happen when we get supers for EVERYTHING? No one has recorded that
achievement yet....
>--------------------<>--------------------<
Player Tips
>--------------------<>--------------------<
If you have trouble with bombs, try this: Drop a bomb into a frozen
lake. Of course it won't explode. Now
drop an Upper or Downer piece on top of it. This will make it explode
in the middle of the ice. Perfectly safe,
as long as you repair the hole before the ice melts. If you feel really
daring, expand this hole before you
repair it for bigger points.
Also, you may have noticed that the piece sequence (other than at the
beginning of a game or when you use
a smart bomb) eventually repeats itself. It goes roughly one cycle per
level. This is how I have a general
idea when a fireball is coming and can time my drops accordingly.
-Chris Shollenberger
>--------------------<>--------------------<
1) First I set up quick duck lakes in three corners with the donut-shape
pieces. I use the other shapes to build the perimeter.
2) I then set up two duck lakes (again with donut pieces) next to two of
my corner lakes. If donut pieces are hard to come by, "L" pieces work
if you position them properly...
3) A couple of straight pieces across a gap between lakes (if it's large
enough) gives me one more. So I have four duck lakes along one side of
the landscape (if you can visualize it - it's hard for me to describe)
and six overall. I tried to make seven, but I usually end up getting an
earthquake for my efforts.
4) All the rest of my Upper pieces get dropped in the dump corner. I
try to keep this corner as low as possible to avoid an earthquake.
-Chris Shollenberger
>--------------------<>--------------------<
If you want to go for points a different way, just make three duck lakes
using the donut-holes, then line the rest of the perimeter up with THREE
layers. You will have to edge them out to save space for the earthquake
meter. By the time you get to upper levels, let the large lake fill up
to the top. You should have a rubber duck in the large lake. Evaporate
it for major points!
-Joe Sestaphine
>--------------------<>--------------------<>--------------------<>-----
---------------<>--------------------
The ULTIMATE POINT GRABBER (as of yet..)
>--------------------<>--------------------<>--------------------<>-----
---------------<>--------------------
First off, I did not think of this strategy. This genius was made by the
minds of Carl Woll and Chris slay. If you want to see more stuff, check
out their page at
http://www.spin.ch/~rca/wetrix/
I've rewritten the strategy hero it made a little bit more sense.
Really, this strategy will get you master once you've.. well, mastered
this!
The name of this strategy, is called the 'Earth' strategy. There are two
reasons for this: The first is that is uses minimal land space so that
you will have more room to hold your ever rising lake. The second, and
main reason it is called this, is that if done right, the earthquake
meter will rarely pass the 'h' on 'Earthquake'
At first you may think that 'Oh I could do that, with a little lake and
perimeter', but, can you have seven ducks and still achieve this?
Probably not. Here is how it works:
First, make a one layer perimeter to stop the threat of leakage.
ONE Layer, because the EQ meter will be burdened and you need every
piece of land you can afford. Then start using your uppers to build a
two layer high stack on one side. {All along the up-left side is the
best part IMHO} It only has to be three blocks long. To get an idea of
how long is is, it is the base length of all the pieces. The rings are
also three blocks long, but the middle is larger than all the other
piece's width, so just stick them in the corner. Make it as neat as
possible, and use downers on them to make it flat. Just make sure no
part of the downer is touching low land. When you have made this, use
the 'I' and 'L' pieces to add a third level perimeter on the outside.
This will be cruicial! It may seem unneccessary now, but you will see
the wrath of the leakage at the higher levels! Now when the stack is
completed {I"m usually done before 1/3 of the way through level 2}, take
a long downer, and place it against the corner, long side pointing
toward the water. Then move it down diaganally one move (one tap on the
stick) and you should have the downer barely touching the outside walls,
with a tiny part hanging over the stack. When it comes down you will
have a nice tiny, ditch. Countinue this process, just use the adjacent
wall of the ditch as the starting point, and move it diganally over one.
You should be able to end up with seven ditches.
Now use the I and T uppers to build a two layer wall in front of
all the ditches. Use the downers to thin them out after you've built it.
If you used the long sides of all the uppers, you will have a small
space left over, too small for the long side of an upper. Just use the
end of it (the thin part on the 'I' or the end of the 'T' to cover it
up.) Now you can start filling it with water. You should have ducks in
all the lakes. If they have a tendency to come up, then after a while
bob back down, then you have either an inconsistency in your ditches,
one wall is not two layers high, or the front wall covering the ditches
was not two layers. If you have at least six ducks working, don't worry.
{If the front wall covering the ditch is over two layers, none of the
excess water will fall into the main lake, and they will drain into
other ditches, thus making one large lake in all the ditches and you end
up with a single duck...or something like that :)}
Now line up the rest of the perimeter three layers high, and thin
it out as much as possible. At this point, you can now use the 'L'
shapes to make extra lakes in front of the walls, or leave it as it is.
You should be below the halfpoint on the earthquake meter if it was all
done right. At level ten, you will have at least a 1,280 multiplier. Add
a rainbow and that's 12,800. A good extra strategy is to make a single
'ice catcher' right in the middle of the playing field. This way most of
the ice that falls will fall into this catcher, and your water will
remain liquid. Sometimes, mines will fall in there too! Be sure to thin
this out as much as possible. With this, and a constant bomb mound in
the corner, you are ready for level 10, supers, masters, and beyond...
Below is a very nice illustration helping to explain the strategy.
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD WWWWWwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDWWWWWWW w w
DDDDDDDDDDDDDD w w
DDDDDDDDDDDDD w w
DDDDDDDDDDDD w w
DDDDDDDDDDD wwwwwwwwwwwww
DDDDDDDDDD w w
DDDDDDDDD w w
DDDDDDDD w w
WWW w w
WWW wwwwwwwwwwwww
WWW w w
w w w
w w w
w w w
w wwwwwwwwwwwww
w w w
w IIIIIIIIII w w
w I ICE I w w
w I ISLAND I w w
w I I wwwwwwwwwwwww
w IIIIIIIIII w w
w w w
w w w
w w w
w wwwwwwwwwwwww
w w w
w w w
w w w
w w w
w wwwwwwwwwwwww
w w w
w w w
w w w
w w w
wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
By Carl Woll
South East
Perimeter walls are 3 high
W=Thick Wall
w=Thin wall
I=Ices Island
D=Bomb Dump
Again, HUGE thanks to Chris Slay and Carl Woll! This is genius work!
Again, if you want to check out some more tips of their own, check out
their site, http://www.spin.ch/~rca/wetrix/
Part four:
>--------------------<>--------------------<
Secrets:
>--------------------<>--------------------<
There certainly are secrets. Here are the ones I KNOW OF
First, you must get an 'Ok' rating on all levels playable. You will
recieve your rating whenver you lose a game. See below for a rating
list.
Whenver a game is completed as 'Ok', it will pulsate green. Do this to
all of them, and you'll get a message 'Your skill has been noted' on
your last one. Then go to any game type, and you can pick between your
normal set, and a new game piece set by selecting the blue guy. He will
change to a rubby ducky, and back to normal. The rubby ducky represents
the new set.
>--------------------<
Blocks:
Uppers:
Normal Straight piece: Normal... straight.. piece
Shorter straight piece: Same as above, but twice as short
Box piece: Just like the ring piece, except alot large, and completely
filled in with a TINY hole.
Triangle piece: A triangle piece, that is difficult to postion right in
the middle of a board.
Downers:
Normal piece: Normal... straight.... piece
Shorter straight piece: Same as above, twice as short
Boxy piece: Just like the upper box piece, but a little smaller so you
can hollow out the piece.
Triangle piece: Exact size as the upper triangle piece. Tough to
manuever also.
When you achieve this secret, the main screen will turn green.
>--------------------<>--------------------<
More secret pieces:
If you get an 'expert' rating on any game, you may notice it will glow
blue. Get expert on them all and you will get another piece set. The set
is actually the same.. kind of. EVERYTHING is much much smaller than
before. It will take up to six or seven pieces just to line up one side
of the board, and affects the earthquake meter too. It takes almost ten
pieces just to get the meter halfway up the 'A' in earthquake. The water
is also alot smaller too. The smallest drop is one single drop of water,
and the largest drop is a just a middle-sized cluster. However, it
drains at just lower than the normal rate, so you still have to be
careful. See the strategies to see how to get expert.
If you get a 'SUPER' rating on any game, it will glow red... get super
on them all and you may get something nicer... (I haven't done this yet
either, just on classic, pro, 100 piece, and 1 minute challenge)
>--------------------<>--------------------<
The following is the Ratings that are given out for playing. This was
taken from the Wextrix homepage (http://www.zedtwo.com/wetrix) and I
thank them for it. The only thing I did was reformat it and reword a
few lines.
Normally, you will always recieve a 'Beginniner' rating, unless the
following conditions are met in the following modes:
Classic, Preset A, and all
Handicap modes
>--------------------<
OK Play the game until the first Level Up (To second level).
Good Play the game until the second Level Up (To third level).
Excellent Play the game until the fourth Level Up (To fifth level).
Expert Play the game until Level 10.
Super Play the game for 1 hour.
Master Score one billion (1,000,000,000).
>--------------------<
Pro and Preset B
OK Play the game half way to Level Up (not very easy to
predict accurately, but the Level Clock is a good
indicator).
Good Play the game until the first Level Up (to level two).
Excellent Play the game until the second Level Up (to level three).
Expert Play the game until Level 10.
Super Play the game for half an hour.
Master Score one billion (1,000,000,000).
>--------------------<
1 Minute Challenge
OK Play the game for 30 seconds.
Good Complete the challenge.
Excellent Score 2,000 or more.
Expert Score 5,000 or more.
Super Score 10,000 or more.
Master Not possible.
>--------------------<
5 Minute Challenge
OK Play the game for 2 and a half minutes.
Good Complete the challenge.
Excellent Score 500,000 or more.
Expert Score 800,000 or more.
Super Score 1,500,000 or more.
Master Not possible.
>--------------------<
100 Piece Challenge
OK Drop fifty pieces.
Good Complete the challenge.
Excellent Score 60,000 or more.
Expert Score 150,000 or more.
Super Score 350,000 or more.
Master Not possible.
>--------------------<
500 Piece Challenge
OK Drop 250 pieces.
Good Complete the challenge.
Excellent Score one million.
Expert Score three million.
Super Score eight million.
Master Not possible.
As a note, on January 20th, Michael Thompson was the FIRST PLAYER EVER
to record an achievement of Master rating in Classic mode! (HOWEVER, he
used
the SECOND alternative piece set, the one gotten by the expert ratings,
to get the
score, so no one has gotten master for the normal piece set). To achieve
this, you must score over 1,000,000,000 points!! (A billion!) so great
job! For more news, and to submit YOUR billion point score in, check
out
http://www.zedtwo.com/wetrix
>--------------------<
Wetrix Waves
This is just a little code, (kind of) and a little fun to see. On the
main Wetrix title screen, hold 'C Up' or 'C Down' and you will make a
little wave of water going up, or negatively below. You can also use the
analog stick to move this wave. It's pretty neat to see, especially when
it shoots up one of the playing mode characters :)
>--------------------<
New floor plans:
Just defeat all eight training lessons. The last one is usually the
hardest for beginners, so my advice is to first being surrounding the
board. Use all the ring-uppers you get on one side of the board. You
should be able to squeeze four in (you'll have to overlap one or two on
the edge). Then, with the whole board secured, use any more you get to
make a second layer on top, then fill it with water. Stick all the
other pieces in one corner, and bomb it when one comes. You should be
able to get at least a couple ducks. Be sure to use the downers to
flatten the rest of the land as much as possible, so you can make one
big lake. Now just keep filling it with water until a rainbow comes.
When it comes, you should be able to still put a little more water in.
The evaporate it. If you did it right, you should be able to get
30,000-40,000 points in one evaporation, passing the 25,000 goal by
far!
Now, if you check out the 'options' section, on the very far right, you
can select what you want the ground to look like when you play! There
are many 'ground plans' for each catagory. Just get to higher levels to
see them. These are the following types:
Football: A football playing field!
Baseball: A baseball playing field!
Sports: General sport related fields!
Classics: Portraits of classic paintings, such as the Mona Lisa.
Blank: Well, it's a blank single color field.
Striped: Pretty, stripped paterns
Tiled: These look like jigsaw puzzles almost... forming a nice
pattern
Flags: American flags, European flags, Asian flags, all kinds!
When you achieve this, the main screen turns red.
>--------------------<>--------------------<>--------------------<>----
Part 5
>--------------------<
Fine (Pronounced, 'Fee-nay')
>--------------------<
Hey, thanks for reading it, I will certainly update it in the near
future with new information as I find it.
Thanks to:
Ocean and Zedtwo, for making such a great game!
-http://www.gamefaqs.com for putting it up!
-http://www.console-gamer.com too for hosting it.
-The offical Wetrix website for letting me use their rating list.
Check out their site! http://www.zedtwo.com/wetrix
-Chris Shollenberger: Your great attitude and your encouragement
-Carl Woll: Your great strategies. Great scores too! Thanks for the
strategies!
-Chris Slay: Great strategies too! Keep up the great work! Thanks for
the strategies!
Thanks for reading! Go to the Wetrix site above, and vote for it and
make it #1! (well, Zelda is pretty darn good too, let's say at least #2
=}
If you want to contact me for questions, comments, complaints (doh!),
and anything you'd like to add, please e-mail me at
alexis@warstrike.com
and I will gladly add it, with full credit to you!
Or icq, prefferably at 8311285
Are you surprised that someone could write such a large guide for this
game? Hah!
>--------------------<>--------------------<>--------------------<>-----
---------------<
